Tories refuse to disclose cost of failed legal fight with Covid Inquiry
The Cabinet Office has refused to disclose the cost of a failed legal battle with the Covid Inquiry over the release of Boris Johnson ’s WhatsApp messages.
It comes after the Tories took the highly unusual step of hauling the Inquiry to court in an attempt to block the release of the ex-PM’s unredacted messages, notebooks and diaries. Labour demanded Rishi Sunak ’s government “come clean about the shameful waste” of public money blown on the messy dispute.
The Government had argued the material, which is likely to contain messages between Mr Sunak and Mr Johnson and other top ministers, contained “irrelevant” material. But the High Court rejected the bid last month and ordered officials to hand over the information to Inquiry chairwoman Baroness Heather Hallett.
Responding to a Freedom of Information request from The Mirror, the Cabinet Office declined to come clean about the total cost of the legal fight to the taxpayer. Instead, officials argued the information is exempt from release because there is an intention to publish the information at a later - unspecified - date.
The response added: “After weighing up the competing public interest considerations, we consider it is reasonable in all the circumstances that the information held should be withheld from disclosure until the future date of publication… and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure at this time”.
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Given the taxpayer is footing the bill for both sides in the judicial review experts have previously estimated the cost to be well into the six figures. Labour’s Shadow Paymaster General Fleur Anderson told The Mirror: “The Government’s refusal to come clean about how much taxpayer money they have wasted in fighting the Covid Inquiry is yet another kick in the teeth for victims' families and the public.
“While hard-working people up and down the country worry about how they are going to afford soaring food prices, energy bills and mortgage rates, the Government has been flushing their cash down the drain. “The Government must now come clean about this shameful waste of public money or face eroding trust even further.”
Susie Flintham, a spokesperson for Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK, added: “It’s not surprising that the Cabinet Office doesn’t want anyone to know how much money it blew on the judicial review. “The whole affair was an obscene waste of time and money, and a desperate attempt by the Cabinet Office to block their own Inquiry from receiving key evidence that could save lives in the future.”
Last month the Inquiry finished hearings in the first phase of the Covid Inquiry, which examined the country’s preparedness for the crisis, with ex-PM David Cameron and austerity Chancellor George Osborne forced to appear. The next phase looking at government decision making during the pandemic is expected to begin in the autumn. A Government spokeswoman said: “It is in the public interest that the Inquiry is thorough, rigorous and comprehensive, but also delivers its report without excessive delay. All costs associated with the judicial review will be published in due course."
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